Manager Jonny Fowell says injury-hit Takeley are in a similar position to what his Clapton side were last season ahead of their clash.

The Tons travel to Station Road this evening (7.45pm) as they look to start climbing up the Essex Senior League table after a mixed start to the season.

They will go into the match on the back of a weekend off after their home fixture against Walthamstow was postponed due to not being able to play at the Old Spotted Dog or arrange another venue in time.

“They’re in a similar position to what we were last season, we had a lot of injuries and it did prove costly in some games, but it does show how strong our squad was to still come sixth in the league,” Fowell said.

“But even still it’s an advantage for them as we were meant to be at home but now we’ve got to travel roughly an hour and a half or whenever from where the players all live.

“What can we do though, we’ve just got to go there and play our game, and then I’m confident we can get something.”

The boss did admit it was frustrating to have been without a fixture on the weekend after nabbing a 0-0 draw with St Margaretsbury last week.

“It is frustrating as we’ve been on a good run recently and we were down to play against Walthamstow.

“I believe there was multiple times the game could have been played but nothing could be agreed, at one point it was almost a Friday night game, but we had played on Wednesday evening.”